


Never Forgotten - Lena’s Heritage

by Tesla_HW_Writer



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family Secrets, Love, Love Letters, Luthor centred-story, Luthor curse, Memories, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Redemption, Regrets, Reunions, death anniversary, family times, secret love story, story telling, stronger together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22845673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tesla_HW_Writer/pseuds/Tesla_HW_Writer
Summary: Today is the anniversary of her mother’s death. Lillian is back in her life and decided to show up on this particular day. Lena who refused to accept that her adoptive mother had really change could see her world goes upside down. Today is the day where everything could change for Lena Kieran Luthor. Maybe it’s time to put an end to the Luthor’s curse.
Relationships: Lena Luthor & Lillian Luthor, Lillian Luthor/Lena Luthor's Biological Mother, Lillian Luthor/Lionel Luthor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Never Forgotten - Lena’s Heritage

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short story written on the slopes of Switzerland. Because while going up to the slopes let’s not wait for nothing and just write stories.
> 
> Written for the woman who helped me to trust in my Luthor’s side...

Lena was getting used to have her mother free and back in her life. Lillian did really have changed since her trial and the death of Lex but something seemed to be missing. As if the older Luthor was still keeping a secret deep down but today Lena didn’t have her mind to this. She was now 27 and her birth mother died on this day, 23 years ago. She didn’t want to see anyone. Kara was out somewhere saving the world. Alex was finally fully directing the DEO without anyone to jeopardise her position. Only Sam, sent her a message inviting to call during the day before going to her meeting in Washington D.C.

She worked the entire morning on her report, determined to go on her mother’s grave late at night when the cemetery would be closed.

Over the years, she became friend with the guardian who was always waiting for her on that day. He never understood how a young kind and intelligent woman like Lena had no one to come with her. So it became his mission to be her support on these nights.

Lena went to Noonan’s for lunch and when she came back, she got surprised to not see her assistant at her desk but it wasn’t really unusual so she passed and went to her office.

“Mother? What are you...”

“Nothing!”

Lillian jumped from Lena’s chair and hide something in her jacket pocket. Lena couldn’t swear it but it seemed that Lillian had been crying. In 23 years, she had never seen her adoptive mother cried, not even on Lionel’s or Lex’s death.

  
“Mother?”

“I was just passing in the neighbourhood.”

“Mother! You are either at the manor or in San Diego for the foundation, neither of them are in the neighbourhood.”

“Ok. I wanted to know how you were doing? I’m worried for you, with Supergirl out of town and Sam back to work. Especially on this day.”

“It’s a normal Thursday, I’m doing fine. I have a lot of meeting this afternoon.”

“Lena. Don’t play the Luthor card with me. It’s not a normal Thursday and we both know it. Don’t do the same mistakes as me. Don’t bury yourself into work and turned your back to your family and the people who love you. Don’t become like me. You’ll regret it.”

“Why you are like this? Why you changed suddenly?”

“There was this woman in prison, the second time. She reminded me of someone I knew. She had lost her daughter and was in prison because she killed the man responsible of her loss. Her husband. Her other kid refused to see her and I realised that I was just like her but I could change that if I was facing my fear and fighting for what I really want.”

“And what do you want?”

“Being a good mother. Try to fix what I did wrong. I won’t have the chance with Lex but I don’t want to wast my chance with you.”

“So no more lies or secret?”

“Yes.”

“So show me.”

Lillian looked at Lena without understanding the request. The young Luthor pointed at the jacket, asking her mother what she was hiding in her pocket. The older Luthor lost all her colours, holding herself to the desk.

“Then I’ll need a drink.”

Lena poured two glasses of whisky and went to sit down on the couch next to her mother. She had put some distance between them but Lillian came immediately closer. For the first time since her arrival in the Luthor family, Lena saw Lillian real face, the usual proud and strong woman looked exhausted and was it sadness in her eyes?

The older Luthor took out a folded paper from her jacket and opened it so Lena could see what was hidden inside. It was an old picture. She recognised immediately Lillian on it. The only difference was the genuine honest happy smile. Lena looked at her mother with surprise. Another woman was on the picture, kissing Lillian’s cheek.

“Who is she?”

“Her name is Saoirse Lena Donovan.” Lillian wait for a reaction before continuing “Your mother.”

“You were friend with my mother? I thought you hated her. You hated me for what she did to you with father.”

“I was far away from hating her or you. It was painful to see you every day. You look just like her.”

Lena sat down against the back of the couch and listened to her mother talking about the past.

***

I was a bit older than you. I just turned 29 and your brother Lex was eight. Your father was on a business trip in Switzerland. I was alone at home when his new assistant came to get some files that your father would need at his return. She was kinder than the two previous one. She was nice with Lex and always smiling. We talked a bit and that was it. But every time that your father was out of town, she always found an excuse to come and stay. Always a little bit longer, always making sure Lex had a new gift or book to read. She hadn’t much compare to me but she had this kindness and happiness than I never had. I found myself waiting for her visit. A year later, Lionel started to take Lex with him on his business trips and I was alone at home.

Soairse was my moments of happiness. The light in my dark storms. This year your father forgot my birthday and preferred to bring Lex on the other side of the world. Your mother didn’t. I don’t even know how she knew but that night, she came and took me out. Nothing fancy just a restaurant and a movie. We talked the entire night about Lex, about her dream of having a kid with whom she could share her passion of art and music.

That night I discovered the artist behind the woman and assistant and I had this feeling in my guts. I knew I was on the wrong road, that I was going straight into troubles but I didn’t care.

“You loved her?”

Oh no, Lena, that night, I fell head over heels for your mother. I was a teenager all over again. Your father was a safe and wealthy situation but your mother was... Heaven. She went over my family name or reputation. With her I was Lillian, the free woman who can dream. But your mother was also respectful and virtuous. She refused to go and break my marriage. She was thinking about Lex’s and my happiness first. At that time I didn’t realised that my happiness was with her.

“Did father knew about your friendship?”

Your father never knew at first, at that time, he was in the dark. We thought we were discreet but I was wrong. A year before you arrived in her life, I decided to enjoy a weekend with her. Your father was in France with your brother, my parents were gone for years and I wanted for once to be happy. On that weekend, we took this picture. We were carefree and happy and for once in my life, I decided to take risk. I decided that your mother was worth the risk.

The Hamptons were desert at this time of the year, your mother was reading on the terrace of our rented house, the sun was showing off her freckles and she was so relax that I took my camera, the only gift from your father, and took pictures of her. I would always remember her laugh, sometimes it’s still ringing in my dreams. She threw her book away and took the camera. She took that picture you have in your hands and the one after is where I took my chance and kissed her.

“You seemed truly happy. I never saw you smile like this. Not even with Lex.”

Oh, I adored Lex, he was my boy, my only pride in my life but he became more and more like your father and with him too I had to pretend. With Saoirse, it was different. I could be me without fear to be judge or be put back to my place.

“What happened next?”

I betrayed my vows and did my best to be with your mother as often as possible. I invited your father to work more from home for Lex’s sake but the truth was because I would be able to see her, steal a touch, a moment, a kiss.

“Father saw nothing?”

No he didn’t. But it became hard for your mother. She was tired to play a double game. She was scared to face your father every day and lied to him, pretending she couldn’t stand my icy heart while behind doors, she was running to my arms and sheets.

“What happened then?”

I’ve been a coward, like I’ve always been. She asked me to flee with her. She wanted to return to Ireland. She wanted to be a pianist and her aunt would offer us a place to stay and I would be able to work at her hotel. She had everything planned. She was ready to jump but I got scared.

“Lex? Father?”

Your father could have found me, I wouldn’t have cared but Lex. He was almost ten and I couldn’t face, his lost. I knew if I was leaving, your father would have used all his powers to take him away from me.

“So you choose to stay?”

I chose safety over love. I chose my family over my lover. We had a huge fight that night. Your father was at LuthorCorp and she went at home, she was ready to help me packing and I asked her to leave. We said terrible things to each other. If I knew what would happen that night I would have fought harder. I would have maybe left with her but you would have never came into her life or even blessed mine.

“What happened this night?”

Your conception. Your mother left the house and went to the only bar, she knew I would never come. She was right on that point, I was, still am, an uptight wealthy heartless coward. But your father needed her and paged her. We didn’t had cellphone at that time but these pagers became my worth enemy. She sent him that she wasn’t in state to work. Your father who always had enjoy to play the knight in shining armour with every woman he could, jumped on the occasion. He went to the bar and played his gentleman card. He could be charming and disarming when he wanted something and that night, he got what he wanted.

Oh, don’t be sorry, Lena. It wasn’t your fault. It never was. And I’m sorry, that I made you feel otherwise all these years. After that night, I thought I’d lost everything. Your parents were working on new projects. Lex was following your father everywhere. Your mother was distant and scared of something. And one day, your father came home saying that he had to change assistant again because she was returning to her family in Ireland. I couldn’t let her go without seeing her, without talking to her, one last time.

“Did you find her?”

Your father knew what he was doing. I didn’t know that your mother had told him everything about our story. Your father was a resentful man, I hurt his pride by cheating on him with a woman, he wanted to hurt me deeper. When I finally found a way to see her, she was already at the airport. When I saw her, my heart broke. She was sitting in the boarding room. She was pregnant. When she saw me, I saw the guilt and pain in her eyes.

“What happened? Tell me you didn’t run again!”

I didn’t, I couldn’t let the love of my life go without her knowing that I didn’t hate her, without her knowing that I was forgiving her. I couldn’t let her go without asking her to forgiving me.

She was even more beautiful because even if it wasn’t the way she wanted, she was realising her dream. She was going to have her little kid, she wanted. She was going back to her country with her family and finally be able to be the pianist, she wanted to be.

“But Lex said she was travelling with them when I was a baby. That she was singing to him the lullaby, she used to sing to me.”

Oh, sadly her dream didn’t last long, her aunt passed away and LuthorCorp bought the hotel. It was your father way to show that he still had the power over her, over us. You were her only bubble of happiness. You became the only reason, she was smiling. We were writing each other letters, secretly. This time, I made sure that your father never knew about it. She sent me pictures of you and her, she told me your adventures and we made sure to never talked about the man we had in common. The only thing that mattered was the happiness of our respective child.

“Her death was it really an accident? I always thought you had a connection with it. She was the reason why your husband got distant and rude. Or I thought it was.”

I still think I have. I felt responsible even if your father swore on his life that he had nothing to do with her death. He was in England with Lex when it happened. I knew something went wrong when Lex came back alone on LuthorCorp’s plane. Your brother just told me that your father had some important stuff to take care but he didn’t want Lex to miss his chess tournament.

You were four, your mother had just send me a picture of you happily looking at the sky. You were pointing at the stars. I waited two weeks for an answer. Your father came back like nothing happened. I thought he just had another affair. It became his favourite game after your mother. His way to punish me. Eight days after his return, I received a letter from one of your mother’s neighbours. We were using her address to communicate. She sent me a letter, with this picture, telling me that your mother had died from drowning in a lake where she loved to go with you. Deep down, I knew it wasn’t an accident but I couldn’t say anything. I mourned her in secret, cried when no one could see me and then life went on. I put my walls on, I fought your father whenever I could. I had nothing left to lose. Lex wasn’t looking at me like a hero anymore. All that matter was his father and these business trips where he was learning to be the next heir of LuthorCorp.

I continued to live but I couldn’t help thinking of Saoirse’s little girl. I couldn’t help thinking how lost and scared, she must feel, alone, somewhere in Ireland. My heart couldn’t heal, I couldn’t continue to live knowing that I was letting your mother down, once again.

“You’re the one who wanted to adopt me?”

I couldn’t go straight forward to your father asking for this. He wasn’t an idiot, he would have understood that our story wasn’t down. But at that time, Luthor Corp was going into a crisis. One of his main project was failing and a lot of his employees were rioting saying that he was a monster and didn’t care about his surroundings.

“You used me to bring back him into the public good light?”

I didn’t care at that time what it would do to him. All that matter was that you were lost and alone somewhere and I couldn’t let that happened. You might be his daughter but you also were my dear Saoirse’s angel. Your father decided to adopt you but as soon as you arrived in our family, people started to talk. To see you as the proof of your father unfaithfulness. But for me your were the proof of my biggest regret and mistake. You look just like her and every time I was looking at you, it reminded me of what I had lost because of my cowardice.

“You’re the one who paid for the angel on her grave? The unique gardenia appearing every year on her grave, it’s you?”

She is buried in Ireland with her parents and her aunt. I paid for this burial because your father didn’t really cared about anything but his power. So when you came to live with us, I wanted you to have somewhere to go to be close to her. I made sure that your nanny was aware of the situation, so she could bring you behind your father’s back. I couldn’t do it, I had to protect you.

“And you pretended to play the bad guy all these years?”

I was no one in your life. You already had lost your mother, I couldn’t let you lost your father. You had his intelligence and your mother strength and cleverness, I knew you would survive this world without me. I was just making sure that your father gave you what you needed. But seeing you hating me, seeing her eyes looking at me with hate was sending me back to my worst nightmare and then I lost hope and went on the wrong road. Once a coward, always a coward.

***

Lena was lost, her eyes going from the picture of her two mothers to her adoptive mother. Under her eyes was developing a complete other story. More dramatic and hurtful than she could ever imagine. She wanted to know more. The little girl hidden in her heart wanted to know more about her mother, about this tragic story she lived with Lillian.

“Why father would want to kill her? You said you had been careful. That he didn’t knew about your secret correspondence.”

“A few months before your mother’s death. I contacted my lawyers. I couldn’t live as a Luthor anymore. Your brother was leaving for Business High School in California. I had nothing to hold me back anymore. I wanted to join your mother in Ireland and fix what I’ve done. I told your father that I wanted my freedom.”

“You wanted to divorce, father?”

“I tried but your mother died and I couldn’t leave anymore. If I wanted to keep my promise to your mother, I needed your father’s reputation and money to protect you. So I stayed.”

“You stayed in an unhappy marriage for me?”

“And for your mother. Yes.”

Lena didn’t realised her gesture until she felt Lillian sobbed on her shoulder. For the first time in a long time, she was truly and honestly hugging her adoptive mother and didn’t want to let go. They could have stayed like this forever if Lena’s assistant hadn’t interrupt them.

“Oh sorry, I thought you were alone.”

“What can I do for you, Terry?” Lena asked making sure to hide her mother with her body so Lillian can gain composure.

“Miss Danvers wants to know if you’ll join them, tonight for game’s night.”

“Tell her, next week. Tonight... I have somewhere else to be.” Lena added looking at her mother with her kindest eyes.

“I’ll tell her right away.”

“Oh and Terry?”

“Yes, Miss?”

“After that, you can go home. I won’t work anymore today, you should enjoy the nice weather.”

“Thank you, Miss Luthor.”

When Terrance left the office, Lillian lost her public mask again and smiled to her daughter.

“See, that’s why you’ll never be like your father or your brother. You are just like her. Putting others first. Making sure that everyone is happy around you. She would be truly proud of you. I am proud of you.”

Lena couldn’t restrain her tears anymore and let herself cry into Lillian’s arms. The older Luthor was clumsy but she rapidly hugged her daughter back. She tried to remember the lullaby that Saoirse used to sing when they were together but her memory was too foggy. She simply focused on the instant and cherished it. When her daughter calmed down, she took a step back but Lena refused to let her mother’s hand go.

“Would you like to come with me to see her?” Lena asked shyly.

“It would be an honour.”

That night, Lena wasn’t alone to visit her mother. That night, Lena realised that she would never be alone anymore. She knew that Lillian could finally be herself in her presence and that together they would cherish the memory of Saoirse Lena Donovan.

When they left the cemetery, Lillian refused to let go off her daughter’s hand, together they looked at the sky and laugh. Next year, they would go to Ireland and Lillian would show to Lena’s her heritage and history.

Even in the darkest night, Love will always shine.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it. I’m a huge fan of the Luthors as a lot of you know and I had always admired Lillian’s complexity. I wanted to try something new with the intention of once again offering her the redemption she deserves.
> 
> Don’t forget to leave a kudos or a comment if you liked it. 🙃


End file.
